Default network printeres randomly change

Some of my employees periodically report that their default network printer for their department somehow randomly changes. They'll print a document only to get a call from another department or a remote office saying it showed up on their printer. Sure enough when I look at their default printer it has been changed.

Any ideas on why this might be occurring? Or how to prevent it from happening. They are all using Windows XP. The printers all appear in Active Directory.

I've had this same issue recur in a couple offices that I support as well over the past few years. As far as I can tell, it's loosely connected to Windows Updates. I haven't been able to definitively identify the cause, and therefore the only solution I've come up with is to reset the default printer using login scripting....either GPO or local (startup/login) scripting.

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Printers have changed substantially in the last 30 or so years, not just in technical capabilities but in cost and usage as well. Printers were originally used for interfacing with the operator, not necessarily for printing copy or pictures.
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